Definitely check out Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri. As much as I love Kurosawa's work (He's my favourite director and I've seen all his films on 35mm), Harakiri is one step ahead. Not only is it a great samurai movie, it is also a poignant critique of Japanese society and the samurai code of honor. It's an anti-samurai samurai movie, if you will. At its core is a tremendous performance by Tatsuya Nakadai. I'm always amazed when I see him in this role of the aging samurai: He was 28 at the time this film was shot, yet he brings a world-weariness and sadness to it. At the same time there is such dignity in the character. Nakadai is an amazing actor and I've never seen him be anything but pitch-perfect in anything that he's been in - but this one has to be his best performance. I love the soundtrack by Toru Takemitsu. It's entirely played on traditional Japanese instruments and heavily influenced by Noh-Theater. But, my god is it good! The biwa is played with a harshness that makes it sound like an electric guitar.
Ran by Akira Kurosawa is mesmerizing. The most beautiful movie i have ever seen. This is perfection and any filmmaker worth his salt will shed tears while watching this film, because they will never be able to create anything matching Ran's level of perfection.
There are so many other great Samurai movies out there, a lot of them have already been named (like The Sword Of Doom - another amazing performance by Nakadai and one of the most ferocious endings in film history - or Kurosawa's other works). The two I mentioned above are essential viewing. Otherwise, just go ahead and explore!